Hernando de Soto

Hernando de Soto (ca. 1496–1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. De Soto first journeyed to the Western Hemisphere in 1514, though his more notable travels came later. In 1539, he arrived in present-day Florida and in 1540 set off on a journey to find gold and other “mineral wealth.” On his way west, in 1541, de Soto reached the Mississippi, making him the first European to “discover” and document the river. Throughout de Soto’s expedition, he and his men clashed with indigenous peoples. They also inadvertently spread infectious diseases including smallpox to the American Indians, who had no resistance to, and were devastated by, the European diseases. In 1542 de Soto himself fell ill and died near Natchez, Mississippi.

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